Costly Australia's Got Talent may not survive in reality

By Michael Lallo

The future of Australia's Got Talent remains uncertain, with speculation it could be axed after just one season on Channel Nine.

The program was beaten by rival reality show The X Factor on Seven, which ditched AGT last year after six seasons.

Australia's Got Talent could be in trouble, with soft ratings when compared to The X Factor, The Voice and other reality shows.

A Nine spokeswoman told Fairfax Media: "We're looking at the performance of the show and we're looking at where it would fit in our schedule. But we haven't done a deal with the judges – we haven't done anything yet – and we haven't formally commissioned it.

"We're working towards it coming back but we haven't finalised all the negotiations with all of the parties."

While it was a solid performer for Nine this year, it lagged behind rival reality shows including The Voice, The Block, My Kitchen Rules, House Rules and The X Factor.

Channel Seven insiders say that AGT's high production costs cemented the network's decision to dump it. A big chunk of those costs include the fees for the judging panel, which this year comprised Kyle Sandilands, Dawn French, Timomatic and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

Halliwell's appearance on the show failed to help her new single Half of Me, which debuted at No. 281 on the Australian charts last week – selling just 393 copies – before dropping off the top 500.

On her blog, Halliwell admitted she was "gutted" but said: "What I do know is this: I need to look back, remember who I am, where I've come from and dust myself off ... I'm not afraid to say I lost!"

Seven took Brown – better known as "Scary Spice" Mel B – to the Supreme Court, where a judge found she remained contracted to the network.

Now a judge on America's Got Talent, Brown recently returned to Australia to promote her new single For Once In My Life. Earlier this month, Seven banned her from appearing as a guest on Ten's The Project to plug the song.

The Nine and Ten networks will announce their 2014 schedules later this month, while Seven revealed its line-up in October. But Nine's spokeswoman said AGT's future may be determined after its 2014 presentations.

"We won't make any announcement until everything has been finalised and it's a done deal," she said.

Michael Lallo is a Senior Entertainment Writer for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Michael joined Fairfax Media in 2006 as a feature writer. He has also been a news reporter for The Sunday Age, a deputy editor of Green Guide and a columnist and critic.